Category: quilting

longarm quilting · quilting

Happy New Year!

Wild Rose Quilter7 Comments

I started 2010 out by spending my morning working on a Pay It Forward project.  Last month, Sammi Brown, surprised me with a most generous gift.  She would not accept any compensation and stated it was her way of paying it forward.  So today, I happily worked on paying it forward in honor of Sammi.  Sammi and I have never met in person. We have become acquainted through the online quilting community. I was so touched by her generosity toward me and have thought and thought about what I could do for her in return.  Maybe knit her a scarf?  Send her gift card? Then it dawned on me that it would probably tickle her pink if I simply passed her good deed on in some way.  I made these pillowcases for pediatric cancer patients being treated in Amarillo.  They will be collected and delivered by my local quilt guild.  Sammi, these are also for you.  Thank you, my friend. 🙂

I used Vicki Welsh’s awesome pillowcase tutorial.  Her instructions are just great and make it so easy and fun to whip some of these out.  I said a few prayers for the recipients while making them, as well.

I ended 2009 with one final finish.  Yesterday evening, I put the last stitches in the label of my Gracie’s Star.  Yay!  Yes, there is a small booboo on the label, but I really don’t care. I love this quilt.

And, I have a couple of “almost finishes” for 2009.  A baby size “Gracie’s Star”, but in Cowboy fabrics for a baby boy.  I have the binding attached, but still need to do the hand-stitching to the back, and the two labels I made for it are ready to be stitched on, and it will be finished.  I must hurry, as the baby is due to arrive this month!  It was commissioned by my friend, Wendy.

And, I got my chicken quilt quilted, and binding attached, ready for the hand-stitching, as well.  It is not the prettiest quilt, but it has all my chicken fabrics in it, and will be cozy and snuggly.  I like it.

Chickens on the front.

Hens & roosters on the back.  And, I still have enough of this fabric left to back one more large quilt, and then some.

I used Jodi Beamish’s Fancy This quilting panto because this part looks like a chick to me.

I also finished this angel ornament, made with my embroidery machine. That was kind of a fun project.  Took quite a bit of time, though. Not to mention thread…lol.

That’s all for now! I hope your 2010 is off to a great start! I must go get the blackeyed peas and cornbread ready for supper.

quilting

Shopping, Organizing and Cleaning

Wild Rose Quilter15 Comments

I am working on getting my quilting room a bit more organized.  Thread storage was a big problem for me.  I had my quilting thread stored in three different locations.  A shelf on my fabric storage shelving that Greg built for me in my closet.  An actual shelf unit that I stuck in that closet.  And, I had some in the linen cabinet that I bought for quilt storage, located in my living room.  I had been given a $75.00 gift card from Target, as a Christmas gift, last year.  I finally spent it this week, on these rolling drawer storage carts.  They are the perfect size for the large spools, and they keep them protected from dust.  I was able to purchase three of them with my card, and for now, it’s enough space, though I will probably need to purchase one more in the near future, as I expand my thread inventory for my customer quilting.  They aren’t made for stacking, but as you can see, I did stack one on top of the other.  The wheels on bottom are removable, and it worked out fine.

A favorite find this week, though, are these storage boxes for my embroidery threads, that I found at JoAnn’s.  I love these! You can easily see your thread, and they have little “pegs” on the bottom, that fit into little receptacles on the top of another box, for secure stacking.  They hold thirty spools each.

Having all my thread neatly contained, easily accessible, and protected feels awesome! And, it freed up space on my fabric shelf for more of my fabric, that I had nowhere to put.  And, it freed up enough shelving space for these:

This would be the reason that I have decided to drop my quilting mag subscriptions.  These are the issues from the last several years, of at least three mags, that I cannot give or throw away because there is at least one quilt in them “that I want to make someday”.  Ok, so obviously I’m not going to live to be 250 years old…I cannot keep piling up magazines.  It’s going to be hard.  Not getting that little fix of quilter’s crack in the mail, every so often.  I may start to shake a little as I walk by the magazine rack in stores, maybe get a little sweaty, weak and nauseous…as the withdrawals hit…but I must be strong.  Because truth be told, there are a few more scattered throughout my house, and then there are the books with patterns, and then the single patterns that I have bought.  And the set of double wedding ring templates waiting to be used.  They are taking up too much space in my life.  I have more than enough to keep me busy for the rest of my life and probably most of my readers’ lives, as well.

And, I bought another kit, jelly roll included, with a pattern book this week.  Yep,  needed another project to put on the list.  See?  I have a problem. This is the rest of the loot from my excursion this week.

I don’t know how much I will use that calculator, but it was on sale for $19.99.  And, when I made that apron recently, it called for bias binding.  Since I’m already short on time in this life to finish all the projects I would like to make, I decided time shouldn’t be spent on making that stuff myself, so I bought an assortment of ready made, to keep on hand.  I also picked up several colors of rick rack to have handy, for projects. Of course, you know that when the time comes, I still won’t have the right color.  Isn’t that the way it always works?

Now, I must get back to the cleaning part. I have dust bunnies to chase.  Have a great Saturday!

longarm quilting · quilting

Trying To Get Caught Up

Wild Rose Quilter4 Comments

Hello again! I have had a lot going on lately.  There was some illness, some sadness, some fun times with family, and some customer quilting.  I won’t bore you with all the details, but will just start trying to get a bit caught up with quilty stuff!

In this post, I will share a couple of customer quilts that I was privileged to quilt.  Every quilt Joanna has sent me to quilt has been wonderful, but this one may well be my favorite.  Quilted with Signature cotton thread and Linda Taylor’s Stars & Loops pantograph.  I loved this quilt! Isn’t it fabulous?

After I finished it, and had boxed it all up for it’s return trip home, I was about to walk out my front door to get my mail from the mail box, when I looked down and noticed (once again) that it really is true that quilters come with strings attached. 🙂

Next is one I fondly referred to as Wild Thang, from one of my local customers.  This is a really fun quilt and I enjoyed watching it “quilt up”.  It is a Christmas gift for my customer’s granddaughter.   I used Superior’s Lava thread on top, and Superior’s So Fine on the back.  Quilted up beautifully! The pattern is Jodi Beamish’s Cat’s Paw panto.

So, there’s a start on catching up. I’ll be back soon with a bit more!

quilting

So I Was Stitching Away and CRAP!!

Wild Rose Quilter17 Comments

You have got to be kidding me? Seriously!?

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HOW did that seam get THERE??? I was SOOOO careful to lay out the binding and go ALL THE WAY AROUND the quilt with it to make sure THAT did NOT happen.  Crap, crap, crap!! So, that put a halt to my happy stitching…bragging to myself about how I think this is the BEST binding I have EVER done.  Now I have to completely undo that section and splice in a new piece, because I am not going to let one stinking corner ruin the best binding I have ever done.  Crap.

And yeah, I cleaned it up for the blog…I don’t think I was really saying crap.

longarm quilting · machine quilting · quilting · quilts · stash busting

Sunday Stash Quilting Report

Wild Rose Quilter19 Comments

I have stash reporting this week! I finished the quilting on my Gracie’s Star quilt.  The pattern is from http://www.quiltintia.com.  I quilted it with Jodie Beamish’s Rosie panto.  Seems I use that one a lot, but this is the only quilt of my very own with it.  Today I got the binding stitched to the front, ready for nighttime snuggling under it, while I do the hand stitching, watching TV.  I used 8 yards backing and binding.  I am going to enjoy using this quilt.  It just makes me feel good.

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I used the red in this star for the binding.

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I love this fabric, that is in some of the blocks, and I used it for backing, also.

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I’m getting kind of antsy to start some new projects, but I’m trying to make myself finish some first.  I want some finishes before this year is finished! I do need to start a commissioned baby quilt soon, though.  I keep forgetting about that, and the baby is due the end of January.  Better start picking some fabric from my stash for that!

My Mom delivered the comfort quilt I made, for our friend with breast cancer, to her today.  She loved it.  She had a mastectomy a week ago Thursday. The test results have revealed that she had two different cancers in that breast.  There will be some chemo, but I think the prognosis is still good.  She has an appointment tomorrow, so maybe we will know more after that.

I’ve had a wonderful weekend, here at home, with my family.  I hope yours has been good, as well!

YTD totals:

  • Incoming Yardage to date: 75 yds.
  • Outgoing Yardage to date:  64.25 yds.
  • Total Stash Busted to date: -10.75 yds.
embroidery · fabric · feather quilting · freehand quilting · longarm quilting · machine quilting · pretty fabric · quilt top · quilting · quilts · stash busting

Stash & Quilting Report

Wild Rose Quilter11 Comments

  • Incoming Yardage to date: 75 yds.
  • Outgoing Yardage to date:  56.25 yds.
  • Total Stash Busted to date: -18.75 yds.
Ok, so my time in the positive was short lived.  But I love my new batiks! (see previous post for the full disclosure with photos you will drool over) So, I’m not feeling too bad about it.  Ok, not bad at all.   I don’t think I will, either, as long as there is movement going through my stash.  Some in, some out…just not all in, in, in.
During my lunch hours, or while I’m cooking something for dinner, and I’m waiting, I’ve been sitting down at the sewing machine and working on the pieced borders for my Boston Commons.
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I also got labels made for my friend’s comfort quilt.  I haven’t finished trimming the jump threads, so just ignore them. It took me right at an hour to get the first one all programmed into the machine.  The stitchout was 74 minutes, and that did not include the time it took me to change thread colors.  I thought I was never going to get done with it.  I started on it after work one evening, so I was already tired, but it was worth it.  I also made a small label to go beside it, just stating that I made the quilt.  Couldn’t fit it on the other label.  A more experienced embroiderer might have been able to, but this was the best I could do.  I don’t have any embroidery software yet, so I have to sit at the machine and program each letter in one by one, and it will only let me put so many characters on a line.  So the machine stops after each line of stitching, and even if I’m not changing colors, I have to be close by to restart the machine.  I hate to invest a bunch of money in embroidery software that I’m not sure I will use that much.  There is a lot about the embroidery that still confuses me.  I may address some of that in a future post.  Maybe some of you embroidery gurus can clear up a question or two for me.
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I started working on Joanna’s quilt a couple of days ago, but until today, I didn’t have anything to show for my efforts, except SID (stitch in the ditch).  I’m sure she is anxious to see how it’s coming, so if you can stand a dose of cuteness, I’ll show you a peek!
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Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and have a great week, y’all!
longarm quilting · machine quilting · quilt top · quilting · quilts · stash busting

Stash & Progress Report

Wild Rose Quilter8 Comments

First, I will get my complaining and whining out of the way.  I had great intentions to get so much accomplished this weekend.  Then wham! Wake up Saturday morning, early, with a headache.  Get up, take Imitrex, back to bed, next time I wake up it is after 9! And I still feel cruddy.  Head is better, but I feel cruddy, sluggish, achy all over.  So needless to say, my Saturday wasn’t what I hoped it to be.  I did manage to get the cute piggie quilt finished and ready to be delivered this week. Today, I felt better, but my shoulder & rib pain has really been ramped up the last few days, as well as my allergies.  Some of you know the latest on my issues with my shoulder blade & ribs, but for those that don’t, I am now seeing a physical therapist, at the urging of my chiropractor.  I had my evaluation with her Wednesday, and she agrees that it is not normal, the way my shoulder blade is moving.   No one can really figure out WHY I am having the issues I am having, which is frustrating.

I go back next Wednesday, and she is going to show me how to tape my shoulder blade, to try to stabilize it, and will have some exercises for me then, also. She has had one other patient in her eleven years that had similar symptoms. She said my shoulder blade is the only one she has felt doing what mine is doing. Apparently, it is moving around way more than it should, and going where it shouldn’t. And, my chiro has to keep putting my stupid ribs back in place. My entire right side rib cage is lower than the left, and there are three that keep “popping out of place”. He can get them back, and within days, they are out again. My shoulder blade sounds like it is grinding against bone. It sounds, and feels, terrible. Pain ranges from moderate to excruciating, and is near constant. I also think it causes some of my migraines. The PT said she hopes that we can get some improvement, but that it will probably never be all the way better. But some better is better than none better.  Sorry to bore you with all that, but you never know when someone else might be having the same problems, and either you help them with sharing your information, or they might help you with some advice or answers you haven’t found yet.

So now, back to stash reporting.  After today, my stash amount busted is now back in the positive for the year.  A whopping 4.25 yards!  I busted another 4 yds. this week, backing the comfort quilt for our friend with breast cancer.  I got the quilting finished on it today.

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I love the pink thread over the cream strips.

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I also managed to get zippers attached to my leaders on my longarm.  I hope I like using them.  I did NOT enjoy the process of attaching them! But they are on, and I am looking forward to giving them a try.

I’m looking forward to getting started on my next customer quilt, but I still have some finalizing of the quilting plan to finish.  Joanna, I hope to be sending you some more ideas over the next day or two, if all goes as planned.  I will try very hard to be able to get started on it this coming weekend.

Speaking of weekend, I am sad that it is almost over already, especially since I wasted most of Saturday, just trying to feel better.  Oh well.  Have a blessed & wonderful week y’all!

longarm quilting · love of my life · quilting · sewing · stash busting

I love my STASH!

Wild Rose Quilter15 Comments

Friday afternoon my Mom called to tell me a dear friend of ours has been diagnosed with breast cancer.  And, being the quilter that I am, I ran straight to my stash.  Oh yes, she must have a quilt!  I had a stack of 5″ pink charm squares, and this is what I did with them.  Started on this yesterday morning, by early afternoon today, it was a completed flimsy.  I can’t wait to watch it be transformed by the quilting.  I’m hoping to squeeze it in, for a quick panto,  between the customer quilt that is on the machine, and the next one in line, so I can get it bound, labeled and off to our friend.  I am going to estimate that I busted 4 yds in the top.  No new fabric in this week.

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Speaking of customer quilts…the next one in line is soooooo cute!  It is appliqued “Chubby Chicks” in cute colors.  I will enjoy working on it.  I will be blogging it, so it’s owner can check in on it.  I just hope I do it justice!  Right now I am quilting appliqued pigs.  I really started second guessing my quilting choices a little over halfway through, and had a mini meltdown.   I took it off the machine to turn and repin it, so I could quilt the last two borders more easily, and took a some pics before I put it back on.  I think it helped to be able to step back and see the whole quilt at once.

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I’m sure I will worry about it a bit, until I get to hand it back to it’s owner and get her reaction.  I’m such a worry wart about that.  And it’s usually the quilts that I think will be the easiest.  Somewhere in the process, my confidence takes a hike, and in comes self-doubt and second guessing, and “oh my God, I’m a failure” thoughts.  Hopefully, she will love it and all my worry will have been for nothing.  Time will tell.

And these are my pretty new flowers that my hubby brought home Friday, to plant in my flower bed.  Purple asters…I love them!

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Tomorrow, I’m off to Amarillo for the yearly “female” doctor visit.  Yucko! Hope your Monday is better than that.